The Price of Smoke

Smoke is the name of a murderer.

It’s taken more lives than anyone else, sneaking into our homes and stealing us away from our families – a silent killer who has ruled our community for generations.

You probably don’t even realise it’s there, but it is.

It always is.

Even when it’s not in your lungs, it’s in control of your body.

It tells you where to go. It tells you what to eat. It forces you to spend all your money on cigarettes and, when you finally do, it limits your ability to breathe.

Smoke has taken so much from so many of us.

But even though it seems like there’s nothing we can do to stop it, an event on May 30th showed us that it can be defeated.

This is The Fono’s “World Smokefree Day” Event.

It was hosted at Saint Pius Church in Glen Innes to celebrate the seven kava clubs who all managed to quit smoking – and if you know anything about kava clubs, you’ll know how difficult that was for them to do.

Smoke is part of their culture.

They can’t drink kava without a cigarette or two, and since all they do is drink kava together, this silent murderer has always been among them – like an extra member of the group they didn’t know about.

Until they signed up to our Smokefree Programme.

Six weeks later, a staggering eighty-nine percent of them were free.

Fathers (who were once unable to stand because of what the smoke was doing to their lungs) were now on their feet, dancing with their children and singing with their kava clubs.

They didn’t have to leave for a cigarette outside.

They didn’t have to stop for a moment to catch their breaths.

And when they got up to perform their songs on stage, they did so with the clearest voices you’ve ever heard – voices that were so healthy, so clean and so free of smoke.

Some of them played the guitar to rejoice in how far they’ve come (acknowledging the journey they made to get to this point and leaving it all in their music), while others performed a cultural dance to celebrate their new lives.

It was an event that none of them would ever forget.

With prizes that were given away, a couple of prayers to remind everyone who really set them free, and speeches by some of the most inspirational guest speakers.

Speakers like Janet Masoe-Hundal who applauded their success, Rebecca Ruwhiu-Collins who praised their hard work, Viliami Lavaka who encouraged them to continue with their journeys, and Saimone Lolohea who inspired us all with his personal story of success.

They were speeches that didn’t just celebrate the seven Kava groups for passing our programme, they were speeches that celebrated the 128 lives who are now smokefree.

128 lives who are saving thousands on cigarettes every year.

128 lives who reduced their risk of lung cancer by up to fifty percent.

128 lives who are now getting to spend more time with their friends and families.

128 lives who all defeated smoke.